Duncan puts injury hell behind him as East Kilbride FC bid to end season on a high

Defender on comeback trail ahead of some massive games for Kilby

East Kilbride FC star Craig Duncan is on the comeback trail after a nasty injury and hopes he can put that pain behind him by helping Kilby to a couple of massive results this week.

The 22-year-old, from Gardenhall, has been sidelined since November after dislocating his knee and has been eased back into first-team action with a number of substitute appearances over the past few weeks.

But
the defender made his first start for Kilby in three months on Saturday
when he captained the side to a 1-0 friendly win over Spartans reserves.

This weekend, the K-Park side face their final Lowland League match of the season when they welcome Gala Fairydean Rovers on Saturday and on Tuesday night they
travel to Dumfries to play their long-awaited Lowland Cup match with Threave Rovers in a bid to secure a semi-final slot.

And
Duncan, a former Alloa reserve player who joined Kilby from EKYM in the
summer, is delighted to be back in the thick of the action.

He told the News: “Things are great right now after the injury and it feels fantastic to be back playing again.

“I’ve come off the bench a few times, so it was great to start and captain the team on Saturday for the first time.

“There’s some big games coming up in the next few weeks and everybody wants to be a part of it.

“We want to finish the Lowland League season on a high by beating Gala and we’re feeling good about our chances.

“We
beat them 1-0 when we played them earlier in the season, but we know they are a good passing side and we will have to put in a good performance to get the win we want.

“After
that we can look at the Threave game, but all the players know a win would give us a great chance of playing in the club’s first semi-final and that would be a great achievement for us in our first season.”

A
win for Kilby against Threave will all but secure their place in the last four with a series of freak results in other cup section matches and a defeat to Dalbeattie Star in Kilby’s final group game capable of denying them.

Kilby currently top their section with three wins from four games and victory
on Tuesday would almost guarantee safe passage to the last four.

EKFC
boss Iain King said: “The three section winners go through and the best
runners-up also make it to the semis, so if we beat Threave and have 12
points from15 that’s a pretty strong record.

“The first thing, though, is making sure we put in a good display against Gala and end the league season with a win.”